especially ukraine and poland, putin would march as many dagestanis and chechens and azeri in there

that was already happening under yanukovich, and was a source of huge resentment

yeah that's what I try to explain to people; the E.U. isn't good but the E.U. also hasn't significantly harmed its Eastern Euro members in the way that Putin would

mostly they just sit around and whine about Orban and Kacynski but they don't do shit

it's a matter of geography

all these countries are small, flat, and have small populations

can't go it alone in that kind of scenario

I spent 6 months in Afghanistan about 10 years ago for work. The “goal” there was to exploit the minerals to try to get self sustainable. Of course this area has so much tribal conflict or will never amount to anything. The west uses them for military bases that’s about it. I assume Georgia is thought of as an afterthought by Russia

absolutely not, Georgia is on Russia's border

every power has a vested interest in keeping control over their neighboring countries

Bad choice of words, as someone they can push over any time they want, is what I meant

it'd be like if Mexico suddenly decided to align with Russia and China

that is true

Russia did flatten Georgia in the war ten years ago

thing is they're already under a shit ton of sanctions

due to Crimea/Ukraine/Russiagate

so I imagine they'd rather not do shit that will make things worse for them

So if I am understanding this correctly you guys are saying that without western allies Georgia is Russia’s whipping boy and Russia is not at all concerned with the health of the Georgian economy?

yes, Georgia and other Eastern European countries

if the option is Russia vs. another option they'll always take the other option

And there is not a force strong enough in eastern Europe to counterbalance Russia, and the lack of political will to do so is not there as well

having dealt with Chechens and the other minorities @blue falafel mentioned I would be pissed off like crazy if someone tried to settle them in my neighborhood

@Right_Honourable yes

there is some political will

for example the Three Seas Initiative

but we're talking about countries that have been whomped on by Russia and Germany since the late 1700's

and are also screwed by geography

so they have to be realistic

Well it’s too bad we have been distracted by 2 years with Russiagate and before that by Obama’s Arab spring to take the situation in Eastern Europe more seriously

one of Trump's unquestionably good initiatives is trying to rebuild relationships with these states

e.g. his speech in Poland etc.

also receiving Orban at the White House

the lobbyists for the three seas initiative got his ear 😄

Obama did nothing but fuck with V4 when he was in office

Trump also ratcheted back a lot of dumb shit

for example, fags are whining about how Trump won't take a stand against the attacks on pride parades in Poland

What s do you mean by V4 @mattforney

the Visegrad Four

Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia

Obama is what you get when you have a college professor as head of a state. Affirmative action hires and neglect.

Hillary’s Russian reset was during this time as well